Yaqueline Boni Echavarría, a member of the Ladies in White, is desperately demanding proof of life for her son, Yasser Rivero Boni, a political prisoner who has been held for 27 days in solitary confinement at the Combinado del Este prison in Havana. Since his isolation, Yasser has been held incommunicado and subjected to degrading conditions that endanger his life.
Yasser, who suffers from asthma, is being held in a damp cell with no access to sunlight. He has suffered severe weight loss, and his physical and emotional health has seriously deteriorated. Furthermore, the authorities have forbidden him from making phone calls, leaving his mother without any news of him since he was placed in solitary confinement almost a month ago.
Captain Pestano, head of building 2 at the Combinado del Este prison, is identified as the main person responsible for the reprisals against Yasser. His mother alleges that Pestano acts with complete impunity, protected by State Security.
This is not the first act of violence against Yasser. In 2014, Captain Pestano brutally assaulted him, striking him 36 times with a baton, causing him to lose sight in one eye and suffer permanent brain damage.
Sentenced in 2023 to a year and a half in prison for “public disorder”, Yasser faces an arbitrary denial of his right to parole, further aggravating his situation.
Yaqueline Boni holds State Security responsible for any harm to her son's well-being and makes an urgent appeal to the international community to save his life. The conditions to which Yasser is being subjected constitute serious human rights violations: prolonged isolation, malnutrition, lack of medical care, and torture.
From Cubalex, we call on human rights organizations and civil society to demand the immediate release of Yasser Rivero Boni and an end to repressive practices in Cuban prisons. His case is an alarming example of the inhumane conditions faced by political prisoners in Cuba.